Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He looked like the perp. Honest mistake.

Mistaken identity isn't the issue.
Excessive use of force is the issue.

OP made it about race

Actually, I think the officer made it about race. He doesn't have any complaints against him for excessive force when apprehending white people. Only black people.

Data on that, please...

I can't link right now because every time I go back here from another window with the link, I lose my entire post and have to start over. This is all easily available on CNN.com and nydailynews.com.

James Blake is black. The NYT article linked above reports that Warren Diggs and Leroy Cline are both black. CNN reported thusly regarding the third lawsuit:

"Frascatore was named in a third lawsuit that alleges he and other officers and sergeants abused and unlawfully arrested a man in a deli in Queens in May 2013. The suit claims that the officers assaulted the man while calling him a racial epithet."

Leaving aside that I sincerely doubt that "racial epithet" was "cracker" or "whitey," that man's name is Stefon Luckey, and the video of Frascatore pepper-spraying him in the deli is on YouTube. He is black.

That leaves the fourth lawsuit by Samuel Pringle. He was beaten up in 2013 in Queens by Frascatore and five other officers after an arrest without a warrant. I'm SURE that HE'S white, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He looked like the perp. Honest mistake.

Mistaken identity isn't the issue.
Excessive use of force is the issue.

OP made it about race

Actually, I think the officer made it about race. He doesn't have any complaints against him for excessive force when apprehending white people. Only black people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/nyregion/video-captures-new-york-officer-manhandling-tennis-star-during-arrest.html

This only refers to two men who were black. I didn't see the race of anyone else who complained. What source do you have that says everyone filing a complaint was black?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He looked like the perp. Honest mistake.

Mistaken identity isn't the issue.
Excessive use of force is the issue.

OP made it about race

Actually, I think the officer made it about race. He doesn't have any complaints against him for excessive force when apprehending white people. Only black people.

Data on that, please...

Well it's good to see you've been able to settle that issue once and for all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He looked like the perp. Honest mistake.

Mistaken identity isn't the issue.
Excessive use of force is the issue.

OP made it about race

Actually, I think the officer made it about race. He doesn't have any complaints against him for excessive force when apprehending white people. Only black people.

Anonymous wrote:It wasn't profiling. Blake perfectly matched a description and photo provided by an informant.

"Racism" and "profiling" are not the issue. Improperly tackling a suspect and using excessive force on someone who was not resisting is the issue.

Very true, and very complex for too many in this thread to comprehend.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He looked like the perp. Honest mistake.

Mistaken identity isn't the issue.
Excessive use of force is the issue.

OP made it about race

Yeah, the cop used excessive force, but the case still hasn't been made that it was because Blake was black.

Anonymous wrote:He looked like the perp. Honest mistake.

Mistaken identity isn't the issue.
Excessive use of force is the issue.

He looked like the perp. Honest mistake.

Anonymous wrote:It wasn't profiling. Blake perfectly matched a description and photo provided by an informant.

"Racism" and "profiling" are not the issue. Improperly tackling a suspect and using excessive force on someone who was not resisting is the issue.

Okay, then let's change the injustice from racial profiling to using excessive force due to race. The allegation could be that the arresting officer used excessive force simply because his suspect was black. Had the suspect been white, he might have taken a more reasonable approach such as to approach the suspect with his service weapon out and asked the suspect to put his hands in the air. This was a police officer that was significantly bigger and was armed plus had 5 additional officers as backup. But rather than question the suspect, he tackled him. There was no justification when he had a number of officers backing him up that he should use such excessive force.

This is a pattern with this officer. In his 4 years of service, this is the fourth time that he is being accused of excessive use of force. And surprise, 2 of the other 3 cases against him are cases where he has used excessive force against black men, all of whom were non-violent at the time of the unexpected and unreasonable use of force. This office is a loaded gun waiting to go off. He has allegedly used excessive force significantly more frequently against blacks and may end up costing the city a lot of money for his inappropriate violent actions.

I agree with Blake that officers like this give the many many thousands of hard-working, honest, and admirable police officers a bad name.

It wasn't profiling. Blake perfectly matched a description and photo provided by an informant.

"Racism" and "profiling" are not the issue. Improperly tackling a suspect and using excessive force on someone who was not resisting is the issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A mistake...yeah...

The officer, James Frascatore, who is white, is a defendant in two federal lawsuits filed earlier that allege excessive force in separate incidents.

Last year, Frascatore was named in an amended complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn alleging he and seven other officers and sergeants beat and unlawfully arrested a man in a Queens deli in May 2013.

The officer is named in a complaint filed in May alleging that officers used excessive force against a man named Warren Diggs for riding his bicycle on the sidewalk in 2013.
That's not a mistake...
That's a frigging pattern.

You people will not be happy until every police officer throws up his or her hands and walks away from the job. Then what will happen?

I'll be happy when police stop assaulting and murdering the people they are supposed to "protect and serve"

I'll be happy when males, mostly black, stop assaulting and murdering people, and therefore there is no need for police at all.

Wow, you are an asshole. Plus, they go to jail for it - police officers lie and don't!

I agree, the pp is an asshole. But police go to jail too and the more the public emphasizes no tolerance, and prosecutors pursue legal recourse, the better things will get.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A mistake...yeah...

The officer, James Frascatore, who is white, is a defendant in two federal lawsuits filed earlier that allege excessive force in separate incidents.

Last year, Frascatore was named in an amended complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn alleging he and seven other officers and sergeants beat and unlawfully arrested a man in a Queens deli in May 2013.

The officer is named in a complaint filed in May alleging that officers used excessive force against a man named Warren Diggs for riding his bicycle on the sidewalk in 2013.
That's not a mistake...
That's a frigging pattern.

You people will not be happy until every police officer throws up his or her hands and walks away from the job. Then what will happen?

I'll be happy when police stop assaulting and murdering the people they are supposed to "protect and serve"

I'll be happy when males, mostly black, stop assaulting and murdering people, and therefore there is no need for police at all.

Wow, you are an asshole. Plus, they go to jail for it - police officers lie and don't!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having watched the video again a few times, the argument that Blake was "racially profiled" comes across as utterly and completely ludicrous. In the video, one can't even distinguish any meaningful difference in skin color between Blake and the cop that tackled him, nor can one see anything about Blake's clothing, behavior or demeanor that would signal anything whatsoever about his race.

Yes, the cops got it wrong, but playing the race card here is a serious stretch.

If you're reluctant to see this as a racial profiling incident more power to you but that doesn't make this incident negligible or irrelevant as far as improper conduct. Police should not be able to physically attack non-threatening individuals on the presumption that they are suspected of non-violent crimes. The officer acted in poor judgment - period.

Yes, the issue is tackling Blake when the suspect (who turned out to be completely innocent and not associated at all with the crime) was wanted only for identity fraud. Which means that you or I could have been tackled as well in a similar situation. I worry for my own safety now when I see that some police officers act this way.

On another note, I'm an older white woman. So maybe the police officer wouldn't tackle me? But then if he wouldn't tackle me because I'm an older white woman, then he must be profiling based on something. But I'm going with the possibility that this shows this could happen to anyone -- since some of our DCUM friends are insisting this wasn't racial profiling. Fine - then tell me why I, as a taxpayer -- who until recently had assumed that police officers as a group exercised a certain amount of professionalism -- shouldn't be livid that there are folks who think we should just get over this because it wasn't racial profiling.

So, this one incident changed you mind that as a group police officers exercise a certain amount of professionalism? If so not much of a conviction there.

As for the profiling. Is anyone suggesting that because it isn't profiling that it doesn't still matter as to what happened?

Actually there are people who are so upset about the accusation of racial profiling that they don't address the fact that the cop shouldn't have tackled him. I've been told that the only alternative to demanding that the police officer should have dealt with Blake without tackling him is to let criminals roam free on the street (and presumably then I have to accept that they might tackle me as well).

And noooooo, this one incident did not change my mind. Let me see if I can remember all of them:

It was the incident where the South Carolina officer shot Levar Jones who was reaching into his truck to get his wallet after the cop told him to get his wallet.
It was the killing of Eric Garner completely unnecessarily due to the use of an unauthorized chokehold.
It was the killing of Natasha McKenna by tazing her four times when she was already shackled because the Fairfax County sheriff's deputies didn't know how to deal with a crazy person.
It was the killing of John Geer by a Fairfax police officer whose colleagues who were standing there and were completely surprised by the shooting. The officer has been charged with murder. (okay so no video of that one)
It was the killing of Walter Scott by shooting him in the back as he ran away by a North Charleston police officer who said he feared for his life. (video disproved)
It was the killing of Samuel DeBose by shooting him point blank in the head by a University of Cincinnati police officer who also said he feared for his life. (video disproved that)
It was the killing of 12-year-old Samir Rice who was playing with a toy gun by a Cleveland police officer who drove right up to him and didn't hesitate to get off a shot immediately.

I know there are others but I think you get the picture here. BTW, not all of these victims were black. And yes even though I'm white and middle class and presumably insulated from this, it doesn't make me feel safe to know that there are police officers who make poor judgment calls which end up in people being injured or killed.